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The main character, William, is a boy born to a hopeless single parent in Glasgow, Scotland, unwanted and largely ignored. Life is always a struggle for her. In the course of time she dies, leaving William with the man she had been living with. William is mistreated and bullied, and eventually runs away from home, penniless and with no idea where to go. He hides in a lorry going to London, where he begs in the streets for money or food. One day he meets up with a couple who are planning to make a documentary world-wide on animals and creatures in their habitat. The two people he meets in London, Jim and Anne, can see a potential in William and agree to take him on as an apprentice. Anne is also a teacher and spends much time helping William with the education he has missed, and he proves a willing learner. They travel to many parts of the globe, Zambia, Botswana, Christmas Island and other places filming and making notes, during which time they have a series of adventures.

Playtime for Truth is intended to amuse, entertain and occasionally to challenge some of the values we hold in life, including our relationship with God and with those around us. A sense or perspective, and a sense of humour, are very desirable. A balanced life is for living.

Christians have a certain hope for better times ahead, whatever our present condition. Hopefully this book will strike an emotional chord with the reader, in good times or in bad.

The ability to stand back, sometimes to have a good laugh at ourselves, may well help to relieve tension, and even our blood pressure!

Over the course of many years, I have written various things to commemorate occasions, which included church activities, the wifes many birthdays, wedding anniversaries, holidays, Christmas and Easter times, to name but a few. These items seem to have had a life of their own and obeyed the call to go forth and multiply. I hadnt realised just how many there were. Writing them has given me much pleasure and satisfaction over many years, and their recipients seemed to have appreciated them, so I have been persuaded to offer them to a wider readership. I hope that readers will find a few chuckles, a few moments for thought, and, above all, encouragement in their Christian life.

In this fascinating study, John Stephens inteprets the significance of the immense cultural change which took place in Italy from the time of Petrarch to the Reformation, and considers its wider contribution to Europe beyond the Alps. His important analysis (which is designed for students and serious general readers of history as well as the specialist) is not a straight narrative history; rather, it is an examination of the humanists, artists and patrons who were the instruments of this change; the contemporary factors that favoured it; and the elements of ancient thought they revived.

This volume establishes a dialogue between East and West in children’s literature scholarship. In all cultures, children’s literature shows a concern to depict identity and individual development, so that character and theme pivot on questions of agency and the circumstances that frame an individual’s decisions and capacities to make choices and act upon them. Such issues of selfhood fall under the heading subjectivity. Attention to the representation of subjectivity in literature enables us to consider how values are formed and changed, how emotions are cultivated, and how maturation is experienced. Because subjectivities emerge in social contexts, they vary from place to place. This book brings together essays by scholars from several Asian countries — Japan, India, Pakistan, Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, Australia, Thailand, and The Philippines — to address subjectivities in fiction and film within frameworks that include social change, multiculturalism, post-colonialism, globalization, and glocalization. Few scholars of western children's literature have a ready understanding of what subjectivity entails in children’s literature and film from Asian countries, especially where Buddhist or Confucian thought remains influential. This volume will impact scholarship and pedagogy both within the countries represented and in countries with established traditions in teaching and research, offering a major contribution to the flow of ideas between different academic and educational cultures.

Playtime for Truth is intended to amuse, entertain and occasionally to challenge some of the values we hold in life, including our relationship with God and with those around us. A sense or perspective, and a sense of humour, are very desirable. A balanced life is for living.

Christians have a certain hope for better times ahead, whatever our present condition. Hopefully this book will strike an emotional chord with the reader, in good times or in bad.

The ability to stand back, sometimes to have a good laugh at ourselves, may well help to relieve tension, and even our blood pressure!

Peter Williams was still a young man when he first met the Great King. He enjoyed the Kings company and often wanted to know more about him but never seemed to have the time. He always enjoyed talking to the King, who enjoyed his company and knew that Peter was one he could trust with any task he gave him. The Great King ruled over nearly all the lands on Earth. Strong and powerful, he wanted only the best for his people, and they looked to him for just about everything. They had only to ask for help when they were in trouble and he would be there for them. And there came a time they needed him now. You might think that such a ruler would be loved by all. But unhappily no, not a bit of it! Many were ungrateful and, sad to say, said they didnt need a King to help them, thank you very much, they would do things their own way.

What happens to traditional stories when they are retold in another time and cultural context and for a different audience? This first-of-its-kind study discusses Bible stories, classical myths, heroic legends, Arthurian romances, Robin Hood lore, folk tales, 'oriental' tales, and other stories derived from European cultures. One chapter is devoted to various retellings of classics, from Shakespeare to "Wind in the Willows." The authors offer a general theory of what motivates the retelling of stories, and how stories express the aspirations of a society. An important function of stories is to introduce children to a cultural heritage, and to transmit a body of shared allusions and experiences that expresses a society's central values and assumptions. However, the cultural heritage may be modified through a pervasive tendency of retellings to produce socially conservative outcomes because of ethnocentric, androcentric and class-based assumptions in the source stories that persist into retellings. Therefore, some stories, such as classical myths, are particularly resistant to feminist reinterpretations, for example, while other types, such as folktales, are more malleable. In examining such possibilities, the book evaluates the processes of interpretation apparent in retellings. Index included.

"With Peace in Mind" is a collection of short stories and poems, sometimes with a light Christian angle, written over a period of years. The authorhabitually wrote a poem for his wife on her birthday, their anniversary, Christmas,Easter or any other notable occasion and this is a selection of them. Other items werewritten for use teaching school or simply for the pleasure of writing.Many of the pieces have appeared in magazines and newspapers. This is a book that you can delve into at any time for pleasure and amusement,reading parts aloud to family round the fire. Other items may cause you think more seriously about what life is all about.

Martin OShea was born in Dublin in one of the less salubrious parts of that beautiful city. He would tell you he was raised on the wrong side of the tracks by loving, but totally incompetent parents. They just could not cope with looking after themselves, let alone the five children, of whom Martin was the eldest. Their house was a two up and two down on a housing estate where just about everybody was in the same boat. They were all skint. Furthermore they saw no prospects of ever becoming otherwise. The Irish lottery was their hoped-for fairy godmother but she seldom came up with the goods. His dad knew all the neighbours on first-name terms and indeed managed to join many of them regularly in the local pub, there to consume copious amounts of Liffey water from the Guinness factory. It was best not to ask where the money came from. Martins mother was one of those little women that you would pass in the street and never actually notice. Indeed you would be anxious not to notice her because she was able to talk the hind legs of a donkey without really saying anything. A sweet soul, but far out and without a constructive thought in her head. Thus it was that Martin, whilst still in his late teens, decided that to avoid the sterile condition of his family he must do the traditional Irish thing and seek his fortune elsewhere. He didnt fancy joining the thousands of former countrymen in America, preferring to be a bit nearer home should he feel the need.

Given the substantial impact of feminism on children’s literature and culture during the last quarter century, it comes as no surprise that gender studies have focused predominantly on issues of female representation. The question of how the same patriarchal ideology structured representations of male bodies and behaviors was until very recently a marginal discussion. Now that masculinity has emerges as an overt theme in children’s literature and film, critical consideration of the subject is timely, if not long overdue

Ways of Being Male addresses this new concern in an unprecedented collection of essays examining how contemporary debates about masculinity are reflected in fiction and film for young adults. An outstanding team of scholars elucidates the ways in which different versions of male identity are constructed and presented to young audiences. The contributors, drawn from a variety of academic disciplines, employ international discourses in literary criticism, feminism, social sciences, film theory, psychoanalytic criticism, and queer theory in their wide-ranging exploration of male representation. With its illuminating array of perspectives, this pioneering survey brings a long neglected subject into sharp focus.

This book offers a clear and concise historical overview of the major religious movements of the ancient Mediterranean world existing from the time of the second millennium BCE up until the fourth century CE, including both the Judeo-Christian and pagan religious traditions. Recognizing the significant role of religious institutions in human history and acknowledging the diversity of religious ideas and practices in the ancient Mediterranean world, “religion” is defined as a collection of myths, beliefs, rituals, ethical practices, social institutions and experiences related to the realm of the sacred cosmos. Without focusing too much attention on technicalities and complex vocabulary, the book provides an introductory road map for exploring the vast array of religious data permeating the ancient Mediterranean world.

Through an examination of literary and archeological evidence, the book summarizes the fundamental religious beliefs and practices of the ancient Near Eastern world, including the religious traditions of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and Israel. Turning westward, the fascinating world of ancient Greek and Roman religion is considered next. The discussion begins with a description of Minoan-Mycenaean religion, followed by a consideration of classical Roman and Greek religion. Next, the numerous religious movements that blossomed during Hellenistic-Roman times are discussed. In addition, the fundamental theological contributions of various Greco-Roman philosophical schools of thought, including Orphism, Stoicism, Pythagoreanism, Platonism and Neo-Platonism, are described. Greco-Roman philosophy functioned as a quasi-religious outlook for many, and played a decisive role in the evolution of religion in the classical and Hellenistic period. The theological speculations of the philosophers regarding the nature of God and the soul made a huge impact in religious circles during the classical and Hellenistic era.

Moving forward in history from archaic and classical times to the later Hellenistic-Roman period, the old religious order of the past falls by the wayside and a new updated religious paradigm begins to develop throughout the Mediterranean world, with a greater emphasis being placed upon the religious individual and the expression of personal religious feelings. There are several important social and historical reasons for this shift in perspective and these factors are explained in the chapter focusing upon personal religion in Hellenistic times. Since the entire religious topography of the ancient Mediterranean world is rarely outlined in a single volume, this book will be a welcome addition to anyone’s library.

This is a part of a collection of poems, stories, and short plays, written over many years to mark a particular occasion. Some were produced for use in church or church magazines, school events, and especially for birthdays, anniversaries, personal moments, and family happenings.

As many a poet has discovered, once you embark on writing poems for the wifes birthday, wedding anniversaries, and so forth, it becomes an expected contribution, and there is no wayout of itbut it is still good fun, and I would suggest readers should try it for themselves.

I hope the reader will find some items for encouragement in their Christian walk with God, together with others to bring a smile on their face.